                   ARAUCARIA CLUEING COMPETITION 63

This competition required "printer's devilry" clues.  The idea is: you compose 
some reasonably sensible and lucid passage in which the word to be clued is 
hidden.  The printer's devil removes the hidden word, closes the gap, and 
removes or inserts as many spaces or punctuation marks as he likes.  What 
remains is some outrageous or ridiculous but not ungrammatical piece of prose. 

Competitors received three specimen clues (two good, one bad) and the following
hints:

  1. Neither the original nor the devilled version need have any connection
     whatsoever to the meaning of the word clued. 

  2. You are not disqualified if the clued word is imperfectly hidden (i.e.
     starts at the beginning, or ends at the end of a word) in the 
     undevilled version, but it is unaesthetic and the rest of the clue
     must be very good to make up for it.  The same applies if the clued
     word is to be inserted at a gap in the devilled version.

  3. The criteria are:
     a. Smoothness and plausibility of the original passage.
     b. Smoothness and risibility of the devilled version.
     c. As in other clues, try to avoid unmotivated proper names.
     d. You get no bonus marks for over-devilry, i.e. changing a large
        number of words from the original to the devilled version.  You
        are not penalized either: see second sample clue.  Criteria 1 and 2
        should be you primary aims.

In this article, I first give the clues without any further ado.  By the time
you've reached the last clue, will probably have been able to solve at least 
one, so you'll know the word.  I then give the clues again, with the original 
passages and my comments.

I found it difficult to decide which of the two prize winners should be 
first and which second, and actually changed my decision a few times.  
But eventually the thrill of unexpected horror I got when fitting the 
answer into Jake Bergmann's clue counted for just a little more than the 
belly laugh that Tom Deneau provided.  Honorable mentions go to Jason 
Kim and Todd McClary.

The clues:

 1. Keep prisoners calm: alarm a mental imp instead.  Fast defense imperative. 

 2. Forge ten Trump IOU slips.

 3. Jumping on doe is not abusive, see? Nyet!

 4. Silently passing, one boat floated down the Congo River.

 5. Sow, hen around his girlfriend's face; dab out on his legs.

 6. Having used this to remove growth, how farm pits look.

 7. Salmon eludes Tin Man's digestive tract

 8. When I redecorated, the vile actions of my guests were quite complimentary 

 9. Due to the tropical heat in farm, animal underwear is never worn there. 

10. The foam still overcomes.

11. Try bra. I sing me a flatus in g-string.

12. Have you seen the vile demons run? Wild!

13. After the British, Gaelic vanished.

14. She decided to calm others

15. Admired a modest robe:  light, cool, and revealing


Clues, originals and comments:

General:  
  Several contestants found this style of clue very hard, and one 
suggested that my comments should be "nice try in a difficult contest"
or words to that effect.  Some of the old hands enjoyed it, but found
it time-consuming.  I enjoyed reading the clues and on several occasions
laughed out loud.
  I have deleted the ingenious explanations given by some competitors to 
support the plausibility of some baffling statements, but I have taken 
them into account when judging.  
  The most common mistake was that of subordinating the sense of the 
original (which the solver does not see) to that of the devilled version 
(which becomes the clue).  This is most unfair to the solver: the 
original must make sense, otherwise it is difficult to reconstruct.  
Nothing, in any kind of clue, is less satisfying than finding a word 
with the aid of checking letters but still being unable to see why it is 
correct.  I'll call this "misguided" sense.
        

HE'S IN THE FLAT ...   
  And did some very tiring things in that confined space ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sow, hen around his girlfriend's face; dab out on his legs.
So, when around his girlfriend's flat, he raced about (on his legs.)
> The original is already rather strenuous, but things really get 
> rumbustious in the clue!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The foam still overcomes.
The flat he roams 'til lover comes.
> Misguided.  Poetic licence is all very well, but hard to unravel.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

WHAT HAPPENED THERE ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jumping on doe is not abusive, see? Nyet!
Jump in gondola. There is not a bus I've seen yet.
> Certainly an attractive notion in Venice!  The syntax in the original
> is a little stilted, but from the clue we realize that a Russian has
> the word ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you seen the vile demons run? Wild!
Have you seen the villa? There, demons run wild.
> A haunted house!  For making my spine shiver, Jason Y. Kim 
> <jykim@imssys.imssys.com> gets an honorable mention.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALL ABOUT HER ...
  These clues all break the original after "her", which I *did* suggest
you should try to avoid.  Nevertheless, there are some clues here that
almost made up in other ways for the flaw.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
She decided to calm others 
She decided to call at her mother's
> This is sound, but a little boring after the exciting adventures
> we've been having.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Admired a modest robe:  light, cool, and revealing 
Admired a model at her strobe light, cool and revealing
> I don't quite picture the original.  This feels like another case
> of misguided sense.  But still a very well-constructed clue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having used this to remove growth, how farm pits look.
Having used this to remove growth, how flat her armpits look.
> A very promising idea!  But you handicapped yourself too much by
> trying to use the meaning of the word 'lather' by referring to 'this'.  
> The original and the clue would have been much richer if you put 
> something sloshy and sticky (like 'mud') in place of 'this'.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Try bra. I sing me a flatus in g-string.
Try braising meal at her flat using string.
> Well, I've tried, and it doesn't work.  Braising meal is difficult at
> the best of times, and I can't manage it using string.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

... LA, THE R ...
  I thought that most entrants would break the original to expose 'the',
but actually there were only five.  But what ingenious clues!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silently passing, one boat floated down the Congo River.
Silently passing on Ebola, the rat floated down the Congo River.
> Very good, very topical, and very ominous.  The boat probably carries
> a corpse.  First prize to Jake Bergmann <jbergman@BBN.COM>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salmon eludes Tin Man's digestive tract 
Salmonella --- the rudest in man's digestive tract.
> Another very good medical remark.  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I redecorated, the vile actions of my guests were quite complimentary 
When I redecorated the villa, the reactions of my guests were quite 
complimentary 
> Another villa where vile things happen, another well-constructed
> pair, and another honorable mention, this time for Todd McClary 
> (toddm@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
After the British, Gaelic vanished.
After the British gala, the relic vanished.
> Misguided.  The word 'British' is much more functional in the clue
> than in the original.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forge ten Trump IOU slips.
Forget L.A.: the rent, rum, pious lips.
> You're breaking the original at a word, and both the original and the
> clue are a little extraordinary.  But at least I've been warned what
> to expect in L.A. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------

THERMAL CURRENTS ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to the tropical heat in farm, animal underwear is never worn there. 
Due to the tropical heat in far Manila, thermal underwear is never worn there.
> A truly magnificent clue: the original is staid and serious and fully
> plausible, the devilled version hilarious.  Second prize to Tom Deneau
> (Tom.Deneau@amd.com)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep prisoners calm: alarm a mental imp instead.  Fast defense imperative. 
Keep prisoners call a thermal armament a limp in steadfast defense imperative.
> Highly ingenious devilry.  It's very difficult to sustain it over such
> a long stretch.  But do the prisoners in your average keep have such
> a picturesque and erudite style of talking?  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
